Yellow Belly, oil on board, 30x20cm, 2021

Yellow Belly was selected for the Society of Scottish Artists’ 123rd Annual Exhibition. 123 artists were selected for this exhibition, which took place at the Royal Scottish Academy (1 – 23rd November 2021).

Created as part of ongoing painting research into the formation and surface of barrier materials, this ‘weave painting’ exists as part of a wider body of ongoing practice.

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The SSA Annual Exhibition will showcase artworks by members of Scotland’s largest artist-led organisation. The exhibition will show some of the most exciting work being made by the Society’s members and other selected artists, as well as bringing powerful international work to audiences in Edinburgh.

Yellow Belly explicitly presents a surface which is clearly painted and which draws upon a woven fabric structure for its appearance and composition. Produced via layering techniques, taking advantage of the properties of oil paint, its dilutants and extenders, Yellow Belly acts as a painting of a porous barrier and as a solid surface to ‘look through’. It is this notion, of a viewer being drawn toward a semi-transparent material, and being offered the change to peek through that supposed barrier which lies at the heart of its creation.

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Exhibition Text

As part of the Society’s continuing commitment to supporting emerging artists, we have invited a number of graduating students from the five main Scottish art schools to exhibit. This year’s exhibition will feature a showcase of the work of 20 graduates of Scotland’s art schools selected from the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021, providing an important opportunity for those who haven’t been able to share their work in person as a result of the pandemic. As well as emerging talents, the exhibition will feature the work of celebrated artists including Mary Morrison, Charlotte Roseberry, Rachel Duckhouse and Louise Barrington. To mark the centenary of the birth of former SSA president George Wyllie, the exhibition will also feature a selection of works generously loaned by the George Wyllie Estate.

A Virtual Tour of the Exhibition is available here:

https://www.s-s-a.org/annualexhibition2021/